Floor mops



cc. 6, 1955 G. M. BARR 2,725,586

FLOOR MOPS Filed NOV. 28, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l GEORGE M. BARR Dec. 6, 1955 G. M. BARR FLOOR MOPS Filed Nov. 28, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 GEORGE M. BARR 4 United States Patent FLOOR MOPS George M. Barr, Millidgeville, Saint'John, New Brunswick; Canada, assignor'to T. S. Simms 62 Co. Limited,

Fairville Village; New Brunswick, Canada Application November 28, 1951, Serial No. 258,545

4 Claims. (Cl. 15-147) This' invention-relates toimops, particularly dry floor mops.

There are numerous dry floor mops, usually differing from one another'in details of frame constructions, handle connections and the like but in most cases, such mops embody a general framework to form the head, which have mop material eitherdetachably or permanently attached to the frame. In most cases, however, they. are designed to be pushed backand forth, and, also sideways, in a normal bufiing motion, but otherwise there is little or no control of the mop-head. Therefore with'such constructions-it is difficult to getfaround parts of'furniture which may be on the floor inthe path of' -the mop and it is-necessaryv in this case to manoeuver withfithe'mop in various ways and to take the necessary, time and troublein this'more intricate. operation; in order-to achieve-proper cleaning; Furthermore, many mop head frames of this general kind are relatively costly to produce;

The present invention avoids these general disadvanrages of the prior'artand"serves*to"provide further advantages;

Amop head is provided formedof two arms each projecting in" a direction. substantially" opposite to the other and having transverse shank. means .inconnection therewith disposed at substantially right angles to each arm and a holder swingably.connectedto the shank means and normally disposed at an incline to the surface upon which the mop head is used 'so that said-holder in said normal position is capable of rotating said arms through substantially 180 degrees in one direction or the other when said holder is given a twisting action in said directions, the arms being designed to receive a mop material to form a complete mop head. Thus, due to the unique partial rotation of the head in the simple twisting action, the mop head can be readily manipulated to go under and around parts of furniture supported on the surface being cleaned, in practically no more time than that attendant to normal mopping on a clear surface.

Preferably, the mop head is formed from a single piece of wire bent to form the arms and shank in one piece but preferably also one end of the shank is offset in a direction substantially at right angles thereto so that the offset portion of the shank connects with one of said arms and disposes it in a plane removed from the plane of the shank and which tends also to dispose the shank at an incline to the surface upon which the mop head is used, whereby to facilitate the easy twisting of the mop head by simple Wrist action as the mop head is moved to and fro in the cleaning action.

The invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the mop head framework of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a partly sectional end elevation of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a plan view partly fragmentary of the mop coverings applicable to the frame-work ofthe mop head;

and

Figures 5 and'6 illustrate the rotation of the mop head substantially through degrees and the manner in' which it will tend readily to substantially encircle the leg.

of a piece of furniture.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates a mop headcon struction as a whole. It includes a holder B of suitable construction to receive the handle and provided with a suitable transverse sleeve-like end It) to freely and swingably connect with the frame of the mop head C. The mop head has a frame C which is preferably formed from a single piece of wire bent on itself to provide the opposed arms' 11 and 12 and a transverse connecting shank 13. The

opposed free ends of the arms 11 and 12 are preferably inclined adjacent their free ends' from the axis of each arm as at 13a and 14 respectively, which improves the cleaning action particularly when getting around furniture. The shank 13 is freely and swingably held in the sleevelike element 163 of holder Bwhieh latter is normally disposed at an incline to the surface on which the arms of the mophead are disposed during'use of the mop. The frame C is elongated and the longitudinal axis of the shank 13 is disposed substantially at right angles'to the longitudinal axis of thefr'ame C as a whole. 13 is formed with abend adjacent one of its ends to form ab'end portion 15. The bend is spaced from the common plane of thesubstantially co-planar arms 11 and 12 so that in use it serves to raise the shank 13 above the general plane of the floor that is engaged bythe substantially co-planar arms 11 and 12.

The two arms 11 and 12extend away from the shank 13 in opposite directions and terminate'in free'ends;the

free ends themselves forming the ends of the' frame whereby the frame is elongated and can'be rotated about the arms '11 and 12-wh'en the-latter overlie a floor'or 'thelike in use.-

11 or 12 dependingupon which way the'handle is twist'ed.-'

Because the shank 13 is"relatively short and-'thehead is elongated-,1 neither of the 'arms -ll and -12 is raised' from the plane of the floor to any appreciable extent during the twisting motion of the handle.

The inclination of the shank 13 to the plane containing arms 11 and 12 and therefore to the surface upon which the mop head rests during use, operates to facilitate the partial rotation of the mop head through substantially 180 degrees by twisting the handle attached to the holder B since a very slight twist, of the wrist of the hand holding the handle, tends automatically to cause the mop head to commence to rotate. Moreover, the arms 11 and 12 will remain substantially parallel to and in engagement through their mop covering, with the floor surface using this twisting movement. Thus, eficient cleaning is achieved and the mop head can ,be manoeuvered around furniture very readily, which is evident from Figures 5 and 6.

The arms 11 and 12 are designed to receive mop material elements D having yarn sewn transversely along the lines 12a to form an elongated pocket therebetween such as shown in Figure 4 and which may be slipped over the arms 11 and 12 and tied to provide a complete mop head. It will be noted from Figures 5 and 6 that the mop material thus assumes the contour of the arms 11 and 12 and their offset ends 13a and 14. In Figure 5 the mop head is shown disposed in normal position with the arm 12 in advance and the mop engaging the leg of a piece of furniture standing on the floor surface being cleaned. The frame of the mop head is thus in a position substantially Patented Dee. 6, 1955 The shank as shown in Figure 1. By twisting the wrist of the hand holding the mop handle, anticlockwise, the mop head will rotate through substantially 186 degrees, depending upon the extent of the twist and can be substantially reversed to the position shown in Figure 6 whereby the mop head will swing over the floor surface and completely around a leg of furniture, thus efficiently cleaning the floor surface all around the leg in one simple efiicient motion. Thus, a simple twisting of the mop handle in one direction and the other will result in a skillful and quick manoeuvering of the rnop around furniture parts on the floor surface being cleaned, without spending extra time and going through special manoeuvers, as would be the case with ordinary forms of floor mop of the prior art. It will be obvious also that the mop of the present invention, due to the manner in which it can be skillfully manoeuvercd, can be easily and quickly manoeuvered into corners and places ordinarily not accessible without diiiiculty.

The mop can be used in exactly the same manner as ordinary forms of door mop, with the added advantage of manoeuvering as described. For instance, particularly due to the incline of the shank 13, it is possible to use the mop of the present invention with the arms thereof projecting sideways where it is desired to present the overall width of the mop in a back and forth movement of the mop and the mop covering will still be upheld disposed in operative engagement with the floor surface upon which it is used. Morover, while the offset portion 15 of the shank is included in the preferred form of construction as above described, which disposes the shank at an incline to the surface upon which the mop is used, it will be obvious that by omitting this offset, practical results can still be obtained, particularly where the arms are of reasonable flexibility, since the mop material carried thereby will still reasonably engage the floor surface during twisting of the mop as described. The most eflicient structure, however, is that embodied in the preferred form of construction described above in detail.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that the mop of the present invention provides a simple and economical construction which will provide for all the general utility of the ordinary mop of its kind, while providing further advantages. It is evident that some changes may be made in the preferred form of structure without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is therefore intended that it should not be interpreted in a limiting sense, other than the limitations imposed by the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a mop, an elongated head frame said head frame being a continuous piece of wire and having a shank between its ends, and two substantially co-planar arms each extending away from said shank in opposite directions respectively and each terminating in a free end, the free ends of said arms being the ends of said head frame, the longitudinal axis of said shank being substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of said head frame; a handle holder; said handle holder being freely and swingably connected to said shank to swing freely about the longitudinal axis thereof, said frame being rotatable on the fie-or when the arms thereof overlie a floor or the-like in use, whereby said holder is capable of twisting said head frame through on a floor or the like in use when said handle holder is turned 180 about its own longitudinal axis, said head frame being designed to receive a mop materia to form the complete mop head, said handle holder being designed to receive a handle.

2. A mop as claimed in claim 1 in which said arms extend away from said shank first substantially parallel to each other and spaced by the length of said shank, and then adjacent their free ends, incline towards each other.

3. A mop as claimed in claim 1 in which said shank is formed with a bend adjacent one of its ends, said bend being spaced from the common plane of said two substantially co-planar arms whereby to raise said shank above the fioor when said arms overlie a floor in use.

4. A mop as claimed in claim 1 in which said shank is formed with a bend adjacent one of its ends, said bend being spaced from the common plane of said two substantially co-planar arms whereby to raise said shank above the floor when said arms overlie a floor in use, said arms extending away from said shank first substantially parallel to each other and spaced by the length of said shank, and then adjacent their free ends, inclining towards each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,187,391 Ritter June 13, 1916 1,437,789 Whyte Dec. 5, 1922 1,550,845 Rickards Aug. 25, 1925 2,043,464 Claxon June 9, 1936 2,310,011 Cave Feb. 2, 1943 2,490,224 McDermott Dec. 6, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 774,084 France Sept. 17, 1934 

